


pull me back to shore (the current is strong, my arms are weak)

by MinSeulgi



Series: Monsta X Bingo Autumn 2017 (rare pairs) [1]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mermaids, Alternate Universe - Sirens, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean, Little Mermaid Elements, M/M, MXRarePairBingo, Mermaids, Monsta X Bingo, Ocean, Pining, Slow Burn, Supernatural Elements, Tags to be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 15:29:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11786052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinSeulgi/pseuds/MinSeulgi
Summary: “You shouldn’t pine after him. He’s human, Minhyuk.”“Don’t you think I know that?”He’s human. He’s only human.





	pull me back to shore (the current is strong, my arms are weak)

**Author's Note:**

> First fic for the 6x6 Version B(each) of the 2017 winter MX Bingo! Prompt is **Mermaid/Siren**.
> 
> More tags to be added as they come up and as I figure out the outline and decide how far to take this. You'll likely see other Starship members (or ex-members) down the line.
> 
> Unbeta'd because I'm a lazy human. And because I have no beta. Whoops.
> 
>  **Music inspiration/aid** : Sleeping At Last's Currents, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Arctic. Title is from the song Currents.

“What are you looking at?”

Minhyuk glances up to the top of the rock where Kihyun perches, long legs crossed and arms bracing himself up. His palms dig into the jagged edges of the rock, and Minhyuk’s own hands twinge in sympathy. But if it hurts, Kihyun shows no indication. His eyes are on the horizon. His eyes are always on the horizon.

It’s like he’s waiting for something to appear.

Kihyun glances down to Minhyuk after a moment, a brow arching. “What were you looking at?”

Faced with the question a second time, Minhyuk glances away and back in the direction of the land. From where he floats in the water, he can just barely make out figures strolling along the sandy shore. Two of them, and a small creature that he knows now to be a dog. He knows one of those figures must be Changkyun. The other, perhaps his younger brother. Minhyuk knows he has one, and a younger sister. The dog is his, as well.

Kihyun seems to follow Minhyuk’s line of sight, for a moment later he makes a noise that sounds suspiciously like a sigh. “Minhyuk...”

“Don’t.”

Minhyuk doesn’t look away from the distant scene. One of the figures, the smaller one, has run into the sapphire waves with the dog. Changkyun stands on the shore, gazing out into the open ocean. His loose shirt, a deep emerald to Minhyuk’s enhanced vision, hugs his torso in the breeze.

Minhyuk resists the urge to duck beneath the waves. Changkyun can’t see him. Changkyun is only human, after all; his eyes can’t make out details from that far away. To him, Kihyun perched on the rock jutting out above the water must look like little more than a distant shadow, easily mistaken for one of the people of the town that frequent this stretch of the beach to swim. And Minhyuk, if anything of him is visible with the naked eye, will look like little more than the jut of a smaller rock from the ocean.

Changkyun can’t see him.

But that knowledge doesn’t put Minhyuk any more at ease.

Kihyun sighs again. “You shouldn’t pine after him. He’s human, Minhyuk.”

Minhyuk twists to shoot Kihyun a dirty look, lips twisting downward into a frown. “Don’t you think I know that?”

Kihyun watches Minhyuk carefully now, an odd sort of disquiet in his eyes. “I know you know that,” Kihyun says at long last, voice quiet. There’s an oddness in his voice, an oddness in the way he leans forward. His arms come to rest on his legs, and Minhyuk can see the way the rock has bitten into Kihyun’s palms. They’re bleeding in some places, scraped raw in others. His fingers dig into his palms, nails gouging crescents into the flesh.

Those sorts of wounds would have a human crying out in pain. But they’ll be healed in a matter of hours -- sooner if Kihyun sings. But he won’t. Not when there’s a chance he’ll be heard.

“It would kill him,” Kihyun continues, voice soft. “Humans can’t breathe the water and he would die. Would you do that to him?”

Minhyuk doesn’t even have to think about it. He turns his body away from the shore, from Changkyun, and looks out at the ocean. “No.”

Kihyun stares back for a long moment before he joined Minhyuk in his study of the open water. The sun will be setting soon, dying the sky and ocean alike in fiery crimson and gold, brightening Kihyun’s hair to a dark wine and staining his wings the color of a dying sun. And long after the sun sinks beneath the ocean, Kihyun will be here on this rock, waiting for the return of the boy who went beyond the horizon.

Minhyuk waits with Kihyun until that happens, until the sky is aflame with honey and amber and rose, until the ocean waves are capped by whitecaps turned to flame, until Kihyun’s skin glows, his eyes burn ocher, and his wings are set alight.

Minhyuk waits until the sun has drowned and the sky flashes green before he turns back to study the shore.

Changkyun is gone, the beach empty. In the distance beyond a line of hills, lights of the town brighten the navy dark of the sky.

Minhyuk slips beneath the surface of the water without saying goodbye, nothing to mark his departure save for the flick of a scarlet fin as it breaks the surface.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on twitter [@CreateTheSound](https://twitter.com/CreateTheSound)!


End file.
